I appreciate the fact that you thoroughly researched and tested your techniques before posting a TH-cam video. I sometimes find myself watching an instructional video which, instead of teaching me something, leaves me confused and wondering whether the instructor is just winging it without ever having gone through the process. Your video is organized, clear, and helpful. Thank you.
Because there are a lot of people making TH-cam videos and learning what they're "teaching" at the same time.... I hate watching a tutorial of someone learning while teaching!
One tip for you. Do not extend tripod legs, use it folded, and you'll be surprised by the difference in sharpness. 1 meter more over 180k kilometers doesn't matter. Use the tilt or flip screen for convenience.
@@AntPDC Probably from experience. On the average, a tripod loses stability the more the legs are extended. It will, of course, depend on the quality of your tripod, so YMMV. Personally, if there isn't anything to cause vibration, like wind or moving vehicles nearby, I don't mind extending the legs because I prefer getting under the camera when shooting at the moon. But the logic behind shortening the legs is sound as I have experienced vehicle vibration ruining the final output when shooting on a bridge over a highway with the legs fully extended.
Thanks for the Photoshop tips! I've done high res shots of the moon with a Nikon D850 with Nikon 800mm f5.6 AI-S with TC-301 2x converter so i'm definitely next time going to try stacking along with crop mode 👍🏻
Thanks for the video Mike! I like this process and love shooting the moon. But I can see doing this process for regular photography every now and then to see what I get. For example, when shooting landscapes. Won't need as many images but it would interesting and would be different than shooting three or more different exposures. This video is getting me excited about photography again. Thanks again.
I got some very sharp shots last night. Nikon D500 Nikon 200-500. Shot at ISO 100 , f/8 1/500 sec. Hand held. Cropped them of course and still very sharp and great detail. Tried my D810, but had better results with the 500. Shot in RAW. Full moon. First time I’ve had good results.
Dang tamron that's some crazy zoom. I don't have a ton of money so I use the panasonic 100-300. I thought that zoom was good but I was wrong. I guess I won't get that crazy resolution any time soon but I can still try this. But I missed the half moon that I like to do.
Thanks, neat video. I personally like prime focus photography as well, the benefit is that it's usually cheaper, however you don't get the helpful autofocus and Vibration reduction, and for the scope that I have, a 4.5 inch Newtonian, there are many terrestrial subjects that are too close to take a clear photo of. It's interesting to note though, that through a telescope the photo comes out surprisingly detailed, without having to do any stopping down the aperture.
Nice video, thanks! I just did a similiar thing two days ago. I used a Nikon D7500 and a Sigma 150 - 600 mm with a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter. I didn't know how to use Photoshop to stack moon images so I learned something new from you. I first tried to use Registax but had a problem with it locking up every time. I then used Autostakkert and that worked for me. It produced a regular file as well as a sharpened file and the results were very good in my opinion. I did have to use Lightroom to crop and center each image first before stacking. I will check out PIPP as one user suggested.
Good tutorial, thanks. I got similar results using a Nikon D750 with a Nikon 500mm zoom lens and a 1.4x teleconverter. Stacked 16 frames in Registax and got a nice sharp photo, same phase of the moon too. Post imaging cropped images are less than 1 MB so I can only enlarge the prints to a maximum of about 8x10. But it never occurred to me to use a crop sensor for a larger image. So I’m going to try this with my Nikon D7000 because a larger image means a sharper enlargements at 8x10 (I think)? Subbed.
Awesome mike, I have the lens and camera but my converter is a 2x I’ve been using my d850 or d810 and never thought of using my 7200 but they both have done well. Thanks for the tips. Damn wind drove me back last night and its cold. I’m in cape may nj. And nights without wind in the fall and winter are hard to come by.
Good tutorial, Mike. I'm going to give this a try. I already tried it with Registax, but the program would just crash every time. I will say this FWIW, I took my photos with a Nikon D750 and the Nikon 200-500mm F/5.6 and got some really nice sharp, well exposed shots at a low ISO with just the right 1/2 of the moon showing. Settings ISO 50, shutter speed 1/80th, F.5/6. I'm pretty new to shooting the night sky, but my inkling is to shoot at lower ISO for less noise, but I understand sometimes we need higher ISO. Can't wait for a clear night, so I can get out with my new Rokinon 14mm F/2.8. Great videos.
Thanks for commenting. Try these other free programs - Deep Sky Stacker, RGIM or IRIS. They may work better than Registax. I've heard good things about Deep sky stacker however I use a mac so I am unable to try them.
I'll check them out, Mike. Thanks. If you ever need to run a Windows program, I believe there are programs for Mac that allow you to run Windows programs in a virtual windows. I have no practical experience with them however.
Yeah parallels work but I heard they are extremely slow. :( I'm playing around pixinsight right now which is a powerful astrophotography program but its a huge learning curve and cost a few hundred bucks. Trying to make the most of my free trial before I decide to get it. When stacking the moon the one thing photoshop can't do that other astro programs can is adjust "wavelets". Basically things in the atmosphere cause the moon to distort a little so when you stack it may not come out super sharp depending on the wavelets. Here is a good tutorial about that. th-cam.com/video/H1qjJEmLuvk/w-d-xo.html
My ideal setup for moon photography is a Nikon D7100, 600mm f/4 ED-IF AIS Nikkor (manual focus) and TC-300, giving an effective focal length of 1800mm on FX. A very sturdy tripod is a must, I use a heavy duty Bogen studio tripod, as this setup weighs about 18 pounds. I simply lock the focusing ring on infinity and use f/8 and 1/ISO plus 2 stops to compensate for the teleconverter. The results are stunning, this image is essentially uncropped. youpic.com/image/14409763/crescent-moon-by-scott-murphy
Awesome vid. Great pics. I’m in the market for a new PC. Your demo was fast. What chipset do you have? How much memory? How much graphics memory? Are you using an SSD or HD “hard drive”? I have a Canon 90D with a Sigma 150-600 contemporary lens. I tried shooting the blood moon the other night. I was taking a lot of test shots and simply could not get any focus! The moon was like a white blob. I’ve since learned, in addition to what I learned from your vid, to turn off image stabilization. You didn’t mention focus. Do you have your canon set up for this shot with multiple focus points? A group of focus points? I’m not sure how Nikon terms their focus options. Thanks, Scott. H.
Lovely image - one question though; if you are exposing for highlights, rather than the whole frame, then your ISO won'tneed to change with the moon's phase, only its position in the sky (due to atmospheric dust/haze and absorbtion when close to the horizon)? The maximum brightness doesn't change with lunar phase, and you're only shooting for the sunlit parts, or am I missing something? Keep up the great work!
This is a great video I’ve loved taking moon photos for a long time there’s something just magical about it. I recently acquired a really good telescope and I’m hoping this puts my moon photos over the top. As it pertains to stacking what would stop one from taking one moon photo and duplicating it as many times as you want and then stacking them, wouldn’t that combat the movement of the earth and ensure every photo is in the same exact arrangement? Thanks!
Thank you for showing me your process. For me I would have just finish my editing in Photoshop cuz there's so many more tools available then in Lightroom but that's just one person's opinion. I really appreciate the steps that you shown it is a very good tutorial on stacking with Adobe.
Thanks for watching! Just a FYI, their are some better tools / software out there for moon stacking. I'm still trying to find a good one for MACs but if you have a pc their are some good free ones you can google.
great video thank you it helped me a lot as im new to all this, since my disability has gotten worse this has become my new hobby ive upgraded to a Nikon D3400 and a SkyWatcher Skymax 127 AZ-GTi WiFi Go-To, but been struggling with the correct settings for the camera to take a decent pic or record video of the moon it seems to be real grainy plz any more help would really be appreciated new subscribe here thumbs up
Fantastic video I need to get into stacking and your video is really easy to follow through the stacking prosess. I HDR the moon the other day and it went ok for my first attempt. Will try stacking next time 👍
Hi Mike, thanks for another great video. I noticed in the comments you were trying different programs for potentially better results. Did you land on a program / workflow that you liked more than Photoshop? Cheers.
Glad you asked that... I just picked up a PC laptop and I will be experimenting with Registax, PIIP and autostakkert over the next week or 2 and hopefully will have a more accurate stacking method for the moon.
@@Milkywaymike Thanks for the reply man! You didn't find any suitable programs on Mac (which I also use)? Switching over to PC? I will try the Photoshop option like you did in this video anyhow, but as you said in the vid, with fairly low ISO, the noise levels aren't too bad in the first place. A teleconverter for my Sigma 150-600 and D800e would be nice...
Good PS tutorial, but the focal length creates the same image on a full frame vs APC sensor. You are dealing with crop factor only . . . except, check your pixel pitch. A smaller sensor with smaller pixels will capture the same detail/sharpness as a larger sensor with larger pixels, considering both are equal in megapixels. And, a full moon is the same exposure as a quarter moon as you are exposing for the lit side of the moon . . . same sun, same distance. Otherwise, thumbs up.
Thanks for the video! I did Exactly what you said, but my image only got less sharp.. what am I doing wrong? :P It did lose the noise but also sharpness.
When photographing the moon you have atmospheric turbulence which distorts the moon in each photo making it slightly different. This can cause it to be softer when stacking. Check out this video to see what I'm referring to and a program to help you eliminate that issue. th-cam.com/video/l7TfNHW5fHw/w-d-xo.html
Hello, maybe you mentioned it in the video, but when in your workflow did you sharpen the image? Before or after doing the stacking in photoshop? Thanks for the video!
I followed your steps and had some great results. One question though: after I flatted it in photoshop it turned my raw file into a .tiff. I ended up exporting it as a .PNG file but is there a certain format I should export it as in order to preserve quality? I wish it could stay as a raw file somehow but I guess since were changing it, it can't be...
It won’t stay a raw file after editing so you want to save it out as a TIFF. Tiff files preserve the quality and allow for future editing much better than jpegs and other file formats. They tend to be big files (sometimes bigger than the raw itself) so just keep an eye on your file space. Some programs may allow you to save it as a DNG which which is also good.
Have you noticed a difference in sharpness with a higher number of photos? I'm wondering if there is any benefit to taking say 100 photos instead of 10 or 15.
Their is but you need to filter out the bad ones for it to work. The other thing to remember is that by sometimes you have humidity / heat waves which effect the sharpness as well astrophotography-telescope.com/moon-stacking-software-for-astrophotography/
Usually auto focus, but then I zoom in on my LCD screen to double check the focus and fine adjust it if necessary. Spot metering and single focus point is fine.
Hello Mike, got a question: my setup is D7500 w/ Sigma 150-600C. When I'm aligning the moon photos, I notice that each of them is slightly different than other. Mostly I shoot it when the moon is rising up high, and the air is cold since I'm in Canada. But all those moon images look like shooting a hot road where the hot air keep moving. Have you ever seen that? Or could it be a lens problem? I'm only 80% satisfied with the stacked result, the single image looks sharper but noisy after sharpening. The stacked onr isn't too back bit I want to make it even sharper and clearer. Thank you.
No worries, your lens is fine... its typically the atmospheric distortion and pressure that causes that heat wave effect on the moon. This happens when photographing planets and other deep space objects as well. Usually you want to photograph extra pictures and then discard the ones that distort too much. Their are moon stacking programs that will remove the worst photos for you.. Check out autostakkert and PIPP sites.google.com/site/astropipp/ I believe those can have set parameters to remove the photos that are distorted too much and align the best moon photos out of your bunch.
MIke, have you experimented with shooting with ISS on at focal lengths like that? I have had heard some guys suggesting this, but I have yet to hear anyone commit to saying it helps. I have tried it a few times but have had results up and down enough to not really be able to discern if it helps or it hurts. I would like to see what you think of the 2x TVC. I have a 1.4x Sony FE on my Sony A7R3 and the 1.4x TVC is good. I can tell if I put the frames side by side, but damn its pretty close. havent had a chance to try a 2x though but yea I have heard the same thing on 2x's
Lakshminarayan Chinnachamy did you convert the photos to a smart object first? Select all the photos after aligning them and convert them to a smart object... then the stack mode should be enabled. Also some versions of PS don’t have it so I’m curious which version of PS you have ?
Hi Mike. I’ve a question for you. Hope you can help? When I tried this and went to “edit” “auto align layers” I got the message “layers do not overlap enough to detect alignment. In general images intended for alignment should overlap by approx 40%” Is there a way around this? Only trying to stack 10 images. Many thanks!
Two problems...firstly the Lightroom option to export to layers in Photoshop was greyed out. This I overcame by opening Adobe Bridge and sending the images to Photoshop as Layers from there. Second problem was that Photoshop couldn't auto-align, as it couldn't recognise 40% overlap. Apart from manually shifting the layers into alignment, is there an automated way around this snag?
You would have to switch your blend mode in photoshop to "difference" and manually align the moon shots as best as possible. Then you can try to auto align it and see if it works. If it doesn't, then check out some other programs out there like PIPP and Autostakart
I keep getting an error on photoshop that the layers don't overlap enough to auto-correct, even though I can't see any meaningful difference. Any idea what's up?
Does auto merge average the images together? The reason for smart objects - mode - "Mean" is to average the photos together which reduces noise. If auto merge does the same thing, then that would work too. I always reiterate to photographers that their is typically more than one way in create something similar in photoshop and to do what they find works the best / easiest. Happy shooting!
Hi Mike, there seems to be an issue with aligning the images in Photoshop. I know your video is 3 years old, and Photoshop will have been updated in that time, but it seems that its refusing to align the images, saying not enough of the images are overlapping- saying it needs 40%. This is a real shame as I was looking fror a way to stac RAW files for moon shots. Do you have a work- around for thie issue as I havent been able to find one online anywhere. Thanks in advance.
I've ran into similar issues as well before... I believe I addressed it in this video but it doesn't always fix the problem. Hopefully this video will help you out with that problem. th-cam.com/video/i-6Z4S6iAFs/w-d-xo.html
@@Milkywaymike Hi Mike, tried this but when I go to Stack - Meridian/Mean, it makes the image blurry and looks like its spinning??? Cant post an image here otherwise Id show you
Im still kind of confused. Why shoot at a high ISO to begin with? Isn't that our enemy? I was told to keep ISO as low as humanly possible when shooting anything. My pictures of the moon seem to be just fine when I'm shooting at an ISO of 200. So why shoot higher? Im still a beginner so any info would be great! Thanks Mike!
A soft image and iso is my enemy so it boils down to what you prefer more. Shooting wide open will reduce the ISO however the image may not be as sharp as it can be… typically stopping down the lens will bring back that sharpness. Then when you introduce stacking software you reduce the noise giving the best of both worlds… tack sharp with little to no noise.
I have (bad) news for you Mike, crop sensors don't increase resolution (anymore). "Apples to apples," a 24MP crop vs. a 24MP full frame, yes, you're getting a 1.4x "teleconverter" effect with no light loss (you keep that 1 stop of light). That 1.4x TC "gain" is by dint of pixel-packing, but it assumes a sufficiently sharp lens, at ~125 lp/mm. BUT compare a 24MP crop to a 42MP full frame, & you're only gaining 1.15x, not 1.4x, so now your so-called focal length reach is only "977mm" instead of "1200mm." It's a slippery slope from there, b/c the Olympus PEN-F has sensor-shifting super-resolution mode that outputs 80 megapixel files on a Micro 4/3rds sensor (crop factor 2x), the Hassy crop-645 sensor outputs 200 megapixel images (645-crop factor .75x relative to 35mm FF), each with presumably sharp glass to match. But ... what are their respective magnifications relative to 35mm-format full frame? Who knows?!?!? Realistically the best way to discuss this is about effective magnification, and whether your lens & sensor are well-suited to each other. The old standard had been 1 power of magnification per 25mm of reach, but with sharper lenses & sensors, it appears to me that what's really needed is a new, better metric for magnification &/or sharpness.
And ... just to complicate matters ... LOL ... if you apply the Bayer Filter discount of 0.75 (to account for the RGGB deficit), your functional resolution max of *most* camera bodies is reduced, such that the theoretical 125 lp/mm of a 24MP crop sensor is realistically more like 95.5 lp/mm. Which brings us back to these lossless tricks for increasing resolution, such as deconvolution & pixel-stacking. Shooting on a Foveon or CCD sensor doesn't suffer the RGGB mosaic discount, nor are they prone to mosaic artifacts such as false colour, etc. Albeit more film-like, they are also slower, suffer lower ISO's & reduced DR / far-zone shoulder. The pixel-shifting functions found in the most recent Bayer-sensor bodies, however, resolve the issue quite a bit with sensor-shifting... the Pentax K1 - favorite for astrograph work - sports this feature, as does the "star eating" Sony A7r3 . The Oly & Hassy bodies mentioned previously also have the feature & fully implement it by complete de-Bayer/de-mosaicking, bringing their resolution to 3x - 4x their nominal base sensor resolution.
Foveon does not have Bayer filter, but CCD has. Some pro camera recorders have 3 CCD sensors for each color, but still cameras have only one sensor so still RGGB mosaic there.
Hi Mike. I have a question and i hope you can help. For some reason, when i try to Auto-Align Layers for 10 of my moon shots, photoshop doesn't align them. It does nothing. Any tips? is there anything i'm doing wrong? I'm doing exactly as you did. Thanks.
you just save the photo in PS. It automatically appears in LR. if it doesn't appears, import the file from where ever you've saved it. In my experience whenever i edit on PS and save it, it automatically comes into LR.
i have followed up to where you saved in ps but then because you already had it in lr you skipped how to put it back in there iam trying to figure it out but i'm new to all this !!!!/
When you flatten and save you image the new image will automatically appear in Lightroom as a TIFF file (as long as your preferences in LR are set up like that). Otherwise you simply save the new file and drag it into Lightroom.
Wondering why you didn't adjust the color? The moon is not monochrome, it is made up of many minerals, which become more apparent when you adjust the color.
Good video but the smaller sensor does not increase magnification. It narrows the field of view to +.5 of the lens focal lingth. It's a crop factor not a .5 increase in magnification. Not being an ass, just being clear for the new guys to astrophotography.
Agreed - it's the high pixel density of the crop sensor which makes them shine in these shots. Pro bird photographers use crop sensor cams a lot for the same reason, using long, hugely expensive tele lenses. These are sensational moon shots which Mike is rightly proud of.
14 should be plenty. After stacking around 12-15 photos it doesn't seem to make a difference from my tests with starry landscape stacker. I think the same should be true for photoshop. milkywaymike.com/2019/06/09/how-many-photos-should-i-stack-in-starry-landscape-stacker/
You didn’t say if you changed the focus point for each of the 15 images? Or did you just take a series of 15 images letting the camera randomly focus each time ?
Mike, great video but you make just one mistake. You said that with a quarter Moon you would adjust the exposure and raise the ISO. No, that is incorrect.. The brightness of the Moon is constant. You would use the same exposure regardless of the phase of the Moon. The only difference between phases of the Moon is how large the visible area of the Moon is, not the brightness of the Moon’s surface. If you use a spot meter on the Moon, then you would see this to be true. Metering the Moon any other way will give you misleading measurements.
That's happened before to me as well for some sets of images.. Try using less pictures and see what happens or you may have to manually align kind of how we use have to manually align stars in photoshop before star stacking software became available.
Not sure if you figure this out yet. There is a simple fix when you're aligning moon photos in PS and it warns you with an error. Crop your original photos with 1:1 ratio, and keep the moon in the center and more than 50% of the whole frame. This almost gives you over 90% chances to align them successfully.
Tried it, but unfortunately Photoshop doesn't want to auto-align my moon layers - tell me the overlap should be at least 40%. (I shot a pretty dim moon, not even a quarter) So I tried manually algining all those handheld shots - worked ok, but the auto-align still doesn't work. And with this happening, this whole basically goes to hell, as you're not ending up with something sharper :-/ Gonna give it another shot soon :) Great tips though!
I've ran into that issue (message) too sometimes... I think their is other free software that will stack the moon for you. Do a google search for free moon stacking software.
Yes, creating a cleaner and sharper image, it is possible to interpolate the image resolution even larger like the super rez technique. I'm still researching other programs that do an even better job with moon stacking as well which will be helpful to use the super resolution technique. I've noticed that the moon shots have a slight distortion which makes each picture slightly different from the other and I think pixinsight and a few other software programs help fix this distortion issue.
Should be fine as long as it is a fast sharp lens. I've caught results as this videos has with a f2.8/400m with a 2x. in a single frame. I think I was at a 50th and 200 iso. The Moon is bright!
I appreciate the fact that you thoroughly researched and tested your techniques before posting a TH-cam video. I sometimes find myself watching an instructional video which, instead of teaching me something, leaves me confused and wondering whether the instructor is just winging it without ever having gone through the process. Your video is organized, clear, and helpful. Thank you.
Appreciate the kind words, thanks!
Because there are a lot of people making TH-cam videos and learning what they're "teaching" at the same time.... I hate watching a tutorial of someone learning while teaching!
One tip for you. Do not extend tripod legs, use it folded, and you'll be surprised by the difference in sharpness. 1 meter more over 180k kilometers doesn't matter. Use the tilt or flip screen for convenience.
Timotei Afanasie I will definitely try it out!!
Was there something about these shots which caused you to offer that solid piece of advice?
@@AntPDC Probably from experience. On the average, a tripod loses stability the more the legs are extended. It will, of course, depend on the quality of your tripod, so YMMV. Personally, if there isn't anything to cause vibration, like wind or moving vehicles nearby, I don't mind extending the legs because I prefer getting under the camera when shooting at the moon. But the logic behind shortening the legs is sound as I have experienced vehicle vibration ruining the final output when shooting on a bridge over a highway with the legs fully extended.
Thanks for the Photoshop tips! I've done high res shots of the moon with a Nikon D850 with Nikon 800mm f5.6 AI-S with TC-301 2x converter so i'm definitely next time going to try stacking along with crop mode 👍🏻
Thanks for the video Mike! I like this process and love shooting the moon. But I can see doing this process for regular photography every now and then to see what I get. For example, when shooting landscapes. Won't need as many images but it would interesting and would be different than shooting three or more different exposures. This video is getting me excited about photography again. Thanks again.
I got some very sharp shots last night. Nikon D500 Nikon 200-500. Shot at ISO 100 , f/8 1/500 sec. Hand held. Cropped them of course and still very sharp and great detail. Tried my D810, but had better results with the 500. Shot in RAW. Full moon. First time I’ve had good results.
Why would anyone dislike this video? So we'll and clearly explained and beautiful shot too.
'cos they have a moon photo mode on their iphone
Dang tamron that's some crazy zoom. I don't have a ton of money so I use the panasonic 100-300. I thought that zoom was good but I was wrong. I guess I won't get that crazy resolution any time soon but I can still try this. But I missed the half moon that I like to do.
Nicely done. Great technique.
Thanks, neat video. I personally like prime focus photography as well, the benefit is that it's usually cheaper, however you don't get the helpful autofocus and Vibration reduction, and for the scope that I have, a 4.5 inch Newtonian, there are many terrestrial subjects that are too close to take a clear photo of. It's interesting to note though, that through a telescope the photo comes out surprisingly detailed, without having to do any stopping down the aperture.
Thanks for watching and sharing!
Very nice video thank you for sharing
Nice video, thanks! I just did a similiar thing two days ago. I used a Nikon D7500 and a Sigma 150 - 600 mm with a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter. I didn't know how to use Photoshop to stack moon images so I learned something new from you. I first tried to use Registax but had a problem with it locking up every time. I then used Autostakkert and that worked for me. It produced a regular file as well as a sharpened file and the results were very good in my opinion. I did have to use Lightroom to crop and center each image first before stacking. I will check out PIPP as one user suggested.
Thank you for a clear explanation.
Good tutorial, thanks. I got similar results using a Nikon D750 with a Nikon 500mm zoom lens and a 1.4x teleconverter. Stacked 16 frames in Registax and got a nice sharp photo, same phase of the moon too. Post imaging cropped images are less than 1 MB so I can only enlarge the prints to a maximum of about 8x10. But it never occurred to me to use a crop sensor for a larger image. So I’m going to try this with my Nikon D7000 because a larger image means a sharper enlargements at 8x10 (I think)? Subbed.
Yeah the pixel density of an APS-C should help
Cool. Nice use of stacking.
Great tutorial! Thank you! :)
Great video thanks for sharing
Awesome mike, I have the lens and camera but my converter is a 2x I’ve been using my d850 or d810 and never thought of using my 7200 but they both have done well. Thanks for the tips. Damn wind drove me back last night and its cold. I’m in cape may nj. And nights without wind in the fall and winter are hard to come by.
Hey Andy. I use my D810 also. I have the the 200-500mm lens. I have never used a teleconverter. Which one of the Nikon converters are you using?
you can set the D800 or D810 or D850 to crop sensor DX mode so it will use a smaller region of the sensor
@@erin36p 2x
@@erin36p 2x giving me 1200 and its sharp. I also have a Tamron 2x. I have been stuck on Tamron stuff because its so good and much cheaper
@@erin36p I'm using tamron and 2x and it gives me 1200mm
Good tutorial, Mike. I'm going to give this a try. I already tried it with Registax, but the program would just crash every time. I will say this FWIW, I took my photos with a Nikon D750 and the Nikon 200-500mm F/5.6 and got some really nice sharp, well exposed shots at a low ISO with just the right 1/2 of the moon showing. Settings ISO 50, shutter speed 1/80th, F.5/6. I'm pretty new to shooting the night sky, but my inkling is to shoot at lower ISO for less noise, but I understand sometimes we need higher ISO. Can't wait for a clear night, so I can get out with my new Rokinon 14mm F/2.8. Great videos.
Thanks for commenting. Try these other free programs - Deep Sky Stacker, RGIM or IRIS. They may work better than Registax. I've heard good things about Deep sky stacker however I use a mac so I am unable to try them.
I'll check them out, Mike. Thanks. If you ever need to run a Windows program, I believe there are programs for Mac that allow you to run Windows programs in a virtual windows. I have no practical experience with them however.
Yeah parallels work but I heard they are extremely slow. :( I'm playing around pixinsight right now which is a powerful astrophotography program but its a huge learning curve and cost a few hundred bucks. Trying to make the most of my free trial before I decide to get it. When stacking the moon the one thing photoshop can't do that other astro programs can is adjust "wavelets". Basically things in the atmosphere cause the moon to distort a little so when you stack it may not come out super sharp depending on the wavelets. Here is a good tutorial about that.
th-cam.com/video/H1qjJEmLuvk/w-d-xo.html
Thanks, Mike.
My ideal setup for moon photography is a Nikon D7100, 600mm f/4 ED-IF AIS Nikkor (manual focus) and TC-300, giving an effective focal length of 1800mm on FX. A very sturdy tripod is a must, I use a heavy duty Bogen studio tripod, as this setup weighs about 18 pounds. I simply lock the focusing ring on infinity and use f/8 and 1/ISO plus 2 stops to compensate for the teleconverter. The results are stunning, this image is essentially uncropped.
youpic.com/image/14409763/crescent-moon-by-scott-murphy
Awesome vid. Great pics. I’m in the market for a new PC. Your demo was fast. What chipset do you have? How much memory? How much graphics memory? Are you using an SSD or HD “hard drive”?
I have a Canon 90D with a Sigma 150-600 contemporary lens. I tried shooting the blood moon the other night. I was taking a lot of test shots and simply could not get any focus! The moon was like a white blob. I’ve since learned, in addition to what I learned from your vid, to turn off image stabilization.
You didn’t mention focus. Do you have your canon set up for this shot with multiple focus points? A group of focus points? I’m not sure how Nikon terms their focus options.
Thanks,
Scott. H.
Lovely image - one question though; if you are exposing for highlights, rather than the whole frame, then your ISO won'tneed to change with the moon's phase, only its position in the sky (due to atmospheric dust/haze and absorbtion when close to the horizon)?
The maximum brightness doesn't change with lunar phase, and you're only shooting for the sunlit parts, or am I missing something?
Keep up the great work!
definitely correct, should be using spot metering too.
This is a great video I’ve loved taking moon photos for a long time there’s something just magical about it. I recently acquired a really good telescope and I’m hoping this puts my moon photos over the top. As it pertains to stacking what would stop one from taking one moon photo and duplicating it as many times as you want and then stacking them, wouldn’t that combat the movement of the earth and ensure every photo is in the same exact arrangement? Thanks!
Nice video! Helped me a lot! Thanks!
Very good Mike!
Excellent video and technique!!!!
I thought you blended the images after aligning them. You went right to Smart Object after aligning. Won't the PS just see the top image? Thanks
Thank you for showing me your process. For me I would have just finish my editing in Photoshop cuz there's so many more tools available then in Lightroom but that's just one person's opinion. I really appreciate the steps that you shown it is a very good tutorial on stacking with Adobe.
OMG, finnaly somebody that actually cares about how image looks viewed @ 100%.. good video, great image, keep it up.
HAHA thanks a bunch! I sell through stock agencies and they require clean and sharp images :) Thanks for watching
I got photos like this with my Nikon P900 no stacking just a 24-2000 mm lens and tripod.
Really really helpfull tutorial. Thanks a lot. Keep the good work, also, you got a new sub ;)
Thanks for watching! Just a FYI, their are some better tools / software out there for moon stacking. I'm still trying to find a good one for MACs but if you have a pc their are some good free ones you can google.
Great video, Mike! Question for you regarding the Tamron 150-600mm G2, or other lenses for that matter:
Do you turn off VC for these types of shots?
Craig Coak yes when using a tripod you should turn that off.
great video thank you it helped me a lot as im new to all this, since my disability has gotten worse this has become my new hobby ive upgraded to a Nikon D3400 and a SkyWatcher Skymax 127 AZ-GTi WiFi Go-To, but been struggling with the correct settings for the camera to take a decent pic or record video of the moon it seems to be real grainy plz any more help would really be appreciated new subscribe here thumbs up
Thanks for watching and dropping a comment! Have fun with photography.... it can get addicting!! Take care.
Turn off auto-iso and use iso-100. This is a single shot (not stacked or cropped) taken with my D3400 and a 10" Skywatcher prntscr.com/qrldy8
Fantastic video I need to get into stacking and your video is really easy to follow through the stacking prosess. I HDR the moon the other day and it went ok for my first attempt. Will try stacking next time 👍
Thanks for watching!!
Hmm. Think I'll give this a go. My kit? Z9, 800 F6.3, 2xTC. Do you think it would make much diff if a lot more than your 14 frames was used?
Hi Mike, thanks for another great video. I noticed in the comments you were trying different programs for potentially better results. Did you land on a program / workflow that you liked more than Photoshop? Cheers.
Glad you asked that... I just picked up a PC laptop and I will be experimenting with Registax, PIIP and autostakkert over the next week or 2 and hopefully will have a more accurate stacking method for the moon.
@@Milkywaymike Thanks for the reply man! You didn't find any suitable programs on Mac (which I also use)? Switching over to PC? I will try the Photoshop option like you did in this video anyhow, but as you said in the vid, with fairly low ISO, the noise levels aren't too bad in the first place. A teleconverter for my Sigma 150-600 and D800e would be nice...
Milky Way Mike hey! Have you used either? Just curious the differences
Good PS tutorial, but the focal length creates the same image on a full frame vs APC sensor. You are dealing with crop factor only . . . except, check your pixel pitch. A smaller sensor with smaller pixels will capture the same detail/sharpness as a larger sensor with larger pixels, considering both are equal in megapixels. And, a full moon is the same exposure as a quarter moon as you are exposing for the lit side of the moon . . . same sun, same distance. Otherwise, thumbs up.
Sold me... I subscribed... 👍👍👍
Thanks!!
Rather than waiting 2 seconds between photos, would enabling live view during the shot not kill any vibration from mirror slap?
Wouldn’t hdr bracket give you more details do work with ?
Pretty sharp no BS.
its very helpful video, thanks
No problem!! Thanks for watching
Thanks for the video! I did Exactly what you said, but my image only got less sharp.. what am I doing wrong? :P It did lose the noise but also sharpness.
When photographing the moon you have atmospheric turbulence which distorts the moon in each photo making it slightly different. This can cause it to be softer when stacking. Check out this video to see what I'm referring to and a program to help you eliminate that issue. th-cam.com/video/l7TfNHW5fHw/w-d-xo.html
@@Milkywaymike Thanks! I used RegStax to stack the pics now and it worked very well!
Great video and everything but i cant open all of the images as diferent layers ( version cs3 ).
thanks anyway.
Hello, maybe you mentioned it in the video, but when in your workflow did you sharpen the image? Before or after doing the stacking in photoshop? Thanks for the video!
I typically sharpen after all the stacking is done
@@Milkywaymike Thank you for the reply!
@@Milkywaymike Sorry, but I am trying this for the first time...did you do the sharpening in Lightroom?
I followed your steps and had some great results. One question though: after I flatted it in photoshop it turned my raw file into a .tiff. I ended up exporting it as a .PNG file but is there a certain format I should export it as in order to preserve quality? I wish it could stay as a raw file somehow but I guess since were changing it, it can't be...
It won’t stay a raw file after editing so you want to save it out as a TIFF. Tiff files preserve the quality and allow for future editing much better than jpegs and other file formats. They tend to be big files (sometimes bigger than the raw itself) so just keep an eye on your file space. Some programs may allow you to save it as a DNG which which is also good.
Have you noticed a difference in sharpness with a higher number of photos? I'm wondering if there is any benefit to taking say 100 photos instead of 10 or 15.
Their is but you need to filter out the bad ones for it to work. The other thing to remember is that by sometimes you have humidity / heat waves which effect the sharpness as well astrophotography-telescope.com/moon-stacking-software-for-astrophotography/
Using a crop sensor DOES NOT add magnification, it just crops the image!
Great tutorial..
Thanks!
Auto focus or manual? Did you use Spot metering and spot focal point?
Usually auto focus, but then I zoom in on my LCD screen to double check the focus and fine adjust it if necessary. Spot metering and single focus point is fine.
You are very good man, I am subscribed to your channel... Keep updating the new videos... Kudos... :)
Thanks!!! I plan on it :)
Hello Mike, got a question: my setup is D7500 w/ Sigma 150-600C. When I'm aligning the moon photos, I notice that each of them is slightly different than other.
Mostly I shoot it when the moon is rising up high, and the air is cold since I'm in Canada. But all those moon images look like shooting a hot road where the hot air keep moving. Have you ever seen that? Or could it be a lens problem? I'm only 80% satisfied with the stacked result, the single image looks sharper but noisy after sharpening. The stacked onr isn't too back bit I want to make it even sharper and clearer. Thank you.
No worries, your lens is fine... its typically the atmospheric distortion and pressure that causes that heat wave effect on the moon. This happens when photographing planets and other deep space objects as well. Usually you want to photograph extra pictures and then discard the ones that distort too much. Their are moon stacking programs that will remove the worst photos for you.. Check out autostakkert and PIPP sites.google.com/site/astropipp/
I believe those can have set parameters to remove the photos that are distorted too much and align the best moon photos out of your bunch.
@@Milkywaymike Thank you so much, I'll try this with the super moon, Cheers!
MIke, have you experimented with shooting with ISS on at focal lengths like that? I have had heard some guys suggesting this, but I have yet to hear anyone commit to saying it helps. I have tried it a few times but have had results up and down enough to not really be able to discern if it helps or it hurts. I would like to see what you think of the 2x TVC. I have a 1.4x Sony FE on my Sony A7R3 and the 1.4x TVC is good. I can tell if I put the frames side by side, but damn its pretty close. havent had a chance to try a 2x though but yea I have heard the same thing on 2x's
Thank u for the wonderful video but when i try to Layer -> smart object -> Stack mode is disable, please help
Lakshminarayan Chinnachamy did you convert the photos to a smart object first? Select all the photos after aligning them and convert them to a smart object... then the stack mode should be enabled. Also some versions of PS don’t have it so I’m curious which version of PS you have ?
@@Milkywaymike thank you for your response, yes i did convert the photos to a smart object. I am using CS6
Hi Mike. I’ve a question for you. Hope you can help? When I tried this and went to “edit” “auto align layers” I got the message “layers do not overlap enough to detect alignment. In general images intended for alignment should overlap by approx 40%”
Is there a way around this? Only trying to stack 10 images.
Many thanks!
I made this a while back so it may not work but see if this video will help. th-cam.com/video/i-6Z4S6iAFs/w-d-xo.html
@@Milkywaymike thank you. Still getting the errors but I think I’m not aligning well enough. Will keep trying. Thanks for the link 👍
Was it 14 pictures with the same settings? Or did the 14 pictures have different settings? thanks
tammanaq same settings for each photo
Two problems...firstly the Lightroom option to export to layers in Photoshop was greyed out. This I overcame by opening Adobe Bridge and sending the images to Photoshop as Layers from there.
Second problem was that Photoshop couldn't auto-align, as it couldn't recognise 40% overlap. Apart from manually shifting the layers into alignment, is there an automated way around this snag?
You would have to switch your blend mode in photoshop to "difference" and manually align the moon shots as best as possible. Then you can try to auto align it and see if it works. If it doesn't, then check out some other programs out there like PIPP and Autostakart
Do you use any filtering?
nah, no filters were used for my moon shots!
A UHC filter might bring out more colour. Try a short avi maybe 1,000 frames and try registax.
I keep getting an error on photoshop that the layers don't overlap enough to auto-correct, even though I can't see any meaningful difference. Any idea what's up?
maybe a zoom difference?
Why not just auto align and auto merge in PS, flatten images, then finish editing in PS?
Does auto merge average the images together? The reason for smart objects - mode - "Mean" is to average the photos together which reduces noise. If auto merge does the same thing, then that would work too. I always reiterate to photographers that their is typically more than one way in create something similar in photoshop and to do what they find works the best / easiest. Happy shooting!
Stack first then develop the image in LR or develop the individual pics in LR then stack?
Most people stack first... feel free to try both ways, but I stack first as well.
Do you remove distortions before stacking?
New to this. Would you be able to use deepsky staker to achieve even better results? Or wont it make a difference?
I think deepsky stacker will work for the moon... You may also want to check out Registax 6 and AutoStakkert which might be better for moon stacking.
Hi Mike, there seems to be an issue with aligning the images in Photoshop. I know your video is 3 years old, and Photoshop will have been updated in that time, but it seems that its refusing to align the images, saying not enough of the images are overlapping- saying it needs 40%.
This is a real shame as I was looking fror a way to stac RAW files for moon shots.
Do you have a work- around for thie issue as I havent been able to find one online anywhere. Thanks in advance.
I've ran into similar issues as well before... I believe I addressed it in this video but it doesn't always fix the problem. Hopefully this video will help you out with that problem. th-cam.com/video/i-6Z4S6iAFs/w-d-xo.html
@@Milkywaymike Hi Mike, tried this but when I go to Stack - Meridian/Mean, it makes the image blurry and looks like its spinning??? Cant post an image here otherwise Id show you
@@Bequia0000 I have the same problem, a blurry image. :(
Im still kind of confused. Why shoot at a high ISO to begin with? Isn't that our enemy? I was told to keep ISO as low as humanly possible when shooting anything. My pictures of the moon seem to be just fine when I'm shooting at an ISO of 200. So why shoot higher? Im still a beginner so any info would be great! Thanks Mike!
A soft image and iso is my enemy so it boils down to what you prefer more. Shooting wide open will reduce the ISO however the image may not be as sharp as it can be… typically stopping down the lens will bring back that sharpness. Then when you introduce stacking software you reduce the noise giving the best of both worlds… tack sharp with little to no noise.
For some reason neither are working for me!! Any tips??
I have (bad) news for you Mike, crop sensors don't increase resolution (anymore). "Apples to apples," a 24MP crop vs. a 24MP full frame, yes, you're getting a 1.4x "teleconverter" effect with no light loss (you keep that 1 stop of light). That 1.4x TC "gain" is by dint of pixel-packing, but it assumes a sufficiently sharp lens, at ~125 lp/mm.
BUT compare a 24MP crop to a 42MP full frame, & you're only gaining 1.15x, not 1.4x, so now your so-called focal length reach is only "977mm" instead of "1200mm." It's a slippery slope from there, b/c the Olympus PEN-F has sensor-shifting super-resolution mode that outputs 80 megapixel files on a Micro 4/3rds sensor (crop factor 2x), the Hassy crop-645 sensor outputs 200 megapixel images (645-crop factor .75x relative to 35mm FF), each with presumably sharp glass to match.
But ... what are their respective magnifications relative to 35mm-format full frame? Who knows?!?!?
Realistically the best way to discuss this is about effective magnification, and whether your lens & sensor are well-suited to each other. The old standard had been 1 power of magnification per 25mm of reach, but with sharper lenses & sensors, it appears to me that what's really needed is a new, better metric for magnification &/or sharpness.
IAC, TY for the tutorial on resolution pixel stacking, it's a great technique for terrestrial & macro stills as well !!
leebert thanks for thorough amount of information you provided!! I will definitely pin it for others to read. Thank u
And ... just to complicate matters ... LOL ... if you apply the Bayer Filter discount of 0.75 (to account for the RGGB deficit), your functional resolution max of *most* camera bodies is reduced, such that the theoretical 125 lp/mm of a 24MP crop sensor is realistically more like 95.5 lp/mm. Which brings us back to these lossless tricks for increasing resolution, such as deconvolution & pixel-stacking.
Shooting on a Foveon or CCD sensor doesn't suffer the RGGB mosaic discount, nor are they prone to mosaic artifacts such as false colour, etc. Albeit more film-like, they are also slower, suffer lower ISO's & reduced DR / far-zone shoulder. The pixel-shifting functions found in the most recent Bayer-sensor bodies, however, resolve the issue quite a bit with sensor-shifting... the Pentax K1 - favorite for astrograph work - sports this feature, as does the "star eating" Sony A7r3 . The Oly & Hassy bodies mentioned previously also have the feature & fully implement it by complete de-Bayer/de-mosaicking, bringing their resolution to 3x - 4x their nominal base sensor resolution.
HAHAHA...It definitely sounds complicated. Great job none the less!!
Foveon does not have Bayer filter, but CCD has. Some pro camera recorders have 3 CCD sensors for each color, but still cameras have only one sensor so still RGGB mosaic there.
Super moon tonight too
I know!!! hopefully the skies are clear!
Hi Mike.
I have a question and i hope you can help.
For some reason, when i try to Auto-Align Layers for 10 of my moon shots, photoshop doesn't align them. It does nothing.
Any tips? is there anything i'm doing wrong?
I'm doing exactly as you did.
Thanks.
I’m not sure what the issue is. Check out a program called autostakkert which can align moons much more accurate than photoshop can.
@@Milkywaymike will do. Thank you Mike. All the best.
@@Milkywaymike Hi Mike, it looks like the software you recommended was Windows only. Anything you recommend for Mac? Thank you.
please explain how you saved the file in PS and exported to LR.
th-cam.com/video/heIInVlqUt4/w-d-xo.html
hello how you move the 14 photos from photoshop to lightroom thanx 7:25
you just save the photo in PS. It automatically appears in LR. if it doesn't appears, import the file from where ever you've saved it. In my experience whenever i edit on PS and save it, it automatically comes into LR.
i have followed up to where you saved in ps but then because you already had it in lr you skipped how to put it back in there iam trying to figure it out but i'm new to all this !!!!/
When you flatten and save you image the new image will automatically appear in Lightroom as a TIFF file (as long as your preferences in LR are set up like that). Otherwise you simply save the new file and drag it into Lightroom.
So where is this extra sharpness coming from then?
digital-photography-school.com/understanding-sensor-shift-technology-high-resolution-images/
@@Milkywaymike Nope, don't think so.
Wondering why you didn't adjust the color? The moon is not monochrome, it is made up of many minerals, which become more apparent when you adjust the color.
would anyone know how to do the same with correl pro ?
were those raw images that you were working with?
Yeah
Good video but the smaller sensor does not increase magnification. It narrows the field of view to +.5 of the lens focal lingth. It's a crop factor not a .5 increase in magnification. Not being an ass, just being clear for the new guys to astrophotography.
Agreed - it's the high pixel density of the crop sensor which makes them shine in these shots. Pro bird photographers use crop sensor cams a lot for the same reason, using long, hugely expensive tele lenses. These are sensational moon shots which Mike is rightly proud of.
Is 14 enough? Would more work better or not?
14 should be plenty. After stacking around 12-15 photos it doesn't seem to make a difference from my tests with starry landscape stacker. I think the same should be true for photoshop. milkywaymike.com/2019/06/09/how-many-photos-should-i-stack-in-starry-landscape-stacker/
Add:
Use a tripod that does not have a center post. even retracted they can introduce movement with a slight breeze.
Use a prime lens.
You didn’t say if you changed the focus point for each of the 15 images? Or did you just take a series of 15 images letting the camera randomly focus each time ?
Sundeep Sembi once I took my test shot for focusing I used that focus for every shot
Mike, great video but you make just one mistake. You said that with a quarter Moon you would adjust the exposure and raise the ISO. No, that is incorrect..
The brightness of the Moon is constant. You would use the same exposure regardless of the phase of the Moon. The only difference between phases of the Moon is how large the visible area of the Moon is, not the brightness of the Moon’s surface.
If you use a spot meter on the Moon, then you would see this to be true. Metering the Moon any other way will give you misleading measurements.
Mhmmmm
Wrong.
Mine won’t align, I get an error from photoshop saying they aren’t able to be aligned help anyone please!!!?
That's happened before to me as well for some sets of images.. Try using less pictures and see what happens or you may have to manually align kind of how we use have to manually align stars in photoshop before star stacking software became available.
Milky Way Mike how do I do so ?
Not sure if you figure this out yet. There is a simple fix when you're aligning moon photos in PS and it warns you with an error. Crop your original photos with 1:1 ratio, and keep the moon in the center and more than 50% of the whole frame.
This almost gives you over 90% chances to align them successfully.
Tried it, but unfortunately Photoshop doesn't want to auto-align my moon layers - tell me the overlap should be at least 40%. (I shot a pretty dim moon, not even a quarter) So I tried manually algining all those handheld shots - worked ok, but the auto-align still doesn't work. And with this happening, this whole basically goes to hell, as you're not ending up with something sharper :-/
Gonna give it another shot soon :) Great tips though!
I've ran into that issue (message) too sometimes... I think their is other free software that will stack the moon for you. Do a google search for free moon stacking software.
In Windows use RegiStax
www.astronomie.be/registax/index.html
Could you not have taken this a step further and used the super resolution technique?
Yes, creating a cleaner and sharper image, it is possible to interpolate the image resolution even larger like the super rez technique. I'm still researching other programs that do an even better job with moon stacking as well which will be helpful to use the super resolution technique. I've noticed that the moon shots have a slight distortion which makes each picture slightly different from the other and I think pixinsight and a few other software programs help fix this distortion issue.
Ah, yes, distortion would be a problem with that technique. I look forward to seeing what you may come up with following your research.
ISO should be base. That's 101 stuff.
Subtle hints of colour on the moon. Not artifacts. I will use shutter release next time on the moon.
here i am at 300mm :(
Should be fine as long as it is a fast sharp lens. I've caught results as this videos has with a f2.8/400m with a 2x. in a single frame. I think I was at a 50th and 200 iso. The Moon is bright!
Yes... I'm the 1K like.
How do I do stacking?
It's in the video
This is overkill. Get a C90 in front of your Nikon and be done with it.
Very good Mike!